Are you longing for real scandal? Christie administration delivers

The controversy over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the George Washington Bridge traffic jam is significant. It’s not significant because it fuels the Democrats and liberal media with more political ammunition or because it dampens the governor’s chances of winning a 2016 presidential bid. It’s significant because it sets forth before Congress and the public a classic template of what a “real” scandal should look like.

Take, for example, the so-called Benghazi scandal. We all grieve the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens, and no matter what your sentiments are in regards to the president, the New York Times article entitled “No Al-Qaida Role in the 2012 Killings,” supports Susan Rice’s and Hillary Clinton’s initial testimonies. To make the argument that the deaths could have been prevented is unfair.

Former President George W. Bush could have prevented the 9/11 Trade Center attack had he acted on prior knowledge. The point is this: In spite of intense investigations, no evidence has surfaced yet that even remotely suggests that the president and his staff were engaged in wrongdoing. It’s not easy to manufacture a scandal.

In reference to the so-called IRS scandal, The Akron Beacon Journal published an interesting article by Jeff Tripp last year titled “Undeserved Tax Exemption.” Tripp wrote “by applying for tax status, they (Tea Party) target themselves for review, and it is the responsibility of the IRS to ascertain their status.” As of yet, FBI probes haven’t turned up anything substantial; yet, the conservative media still continues calling the IRS controversy a scandal?

Real scandals have scandalous substance. They just don’t happen. They seed in the upper echelon of power. They breathe. They brew. They grow. They take on a life of their own. When uncovered and exposed, they fester and die.

Warren G. Harding’s administration was so bedridden by scandal that upon his death, (pneumonia) his wife destroyed all his business records. Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency rather than face impeachment charges for his role in the infamous Watergate break-in.

And unveiling center stage before the nation presently is the Traffic Jam scandal, which was aimed at punishing Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee, N.J., for not endorsing Gov. Christie during his re-election campaign. Four top people have lost their jobs and 20 subpoenas have been issued as the governor himself has hired a defense lawyer.

Everybody can see how the Bridge, IRS and Benghazi scandals rank in comparison. Finally, this scandal will certainly affect the political atmosphere in 2016.

Notice all of the Republican's actions are REACTIONS? They never do anything on their own merits, it is all "lets stop this from happening" action! Maybe if you guys listened to the people and came up with any kind of health care reform instead of doing nothing, the ACA would have never came about. Shoot, if you did something, Obama probably wouldn't have been elected in the first place.

How long does Governor Christie have to stonewall before this "bridgegate" is in his rear view mirror and he can look into the future? This seems to be the way the dems/socialists/ put their scandals to bed. Deny,deny,deny until it's wrong to keep bringing up the subject of the scandal of the week. Just like President Obama said in his interview with O'Reilly, Fox News is wrong to keep these scandals alive. Is this the way you dems/libs/socialists want government to run?

(How many emails were there to support the claim that Benghazi was political pay-back for non-support? Or even garden-variety incompetence? Or even malfeasance rising to the level of, say, 9/11, for which disaster W was never held accountable?)

Since someone insists on quoting 5 words out of context. Clinton's whole quote is: "With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again."

The only reason it matters why someone attacks any of our bases and kills any of our personnel is if you think there are reasons that justify or excuse an attack.

You are equally outraged at the deaths of THOUSANDS.of United States sons and daughters who died because of lies so we could attack Iraq, correct eivo? You are a hypocrite if you don't send an equal amount of money to Iraq War veterans groups. Money much better spent than to some right wing nut job super pac. The Koch brothers already have enough money.

Benghazi and the irs pretend scandals have been exhaustively debunked so I wish the rightys would shut up. Christie is toast! he's a big mouth bully who calls his constituents names at town hall meetings. he thinks he's tony soprano. he's finished and I'm loving every minute of his twisting in the wind!!

Post 29 shows how out of touch eivo is. Please state the benefits of the Iraq invasion still being felt today? Iraq is on the brink of civil war. Al Quida is now entrenched in Iraq when they didn't exist in Iraq before the invasion. The deaths of thousands of American soldiers are because of the lies told to the American public.

Keep denying and lose more credibility. Scratch that. We have learned you have no credibility and no ability to think for yourself, only the pablum that is fed to you by the Koch Brothers and Faux News.

evio, If the congress really thought (as you do) that Holder might not adequately investigate the so-called Benghazi and IRS issues, they would be appointing a special prosecutor (now called independant counsel).

Has your favorite congressman, Bill Johnson, called for such an independant investigator? How about Boehner?

Maybe because they are not as convinced (as you) that laws were broken......

evio, It is amazing you would say hold people accountable. Nixion, and his staff with Watergate and nobody was punished. The slug resigned and faded into dust. Reagan and Iran Contra, and the executive privilege and Oliver North goes to prison. Dubya and the Iraq war because of WMD, still haven't seen any. over 4,500 dead as a result. No bid contracts to his vice presidents former company (while that VP was still collecting his severance pay) that made billions on that deal. Two wars that were never put on budget that were costing an average of billion dollars a month for six years. Do I really need to go on evio?

“Top GOP Lawmakers: NO NEED for Special Prosecutor in IRS Scandal” Republican leaders in Congress are currently against appointing an independent special prosecutor to investigate the IRS controversy.. House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, and House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Sen. Orrin Hatch, and House Ways and Means members Dave Camp and Charles Boustany, are in agreement. – NewsMax - May 24 2013

Cut tax rates to the wealthy while reducing state contributions to the states. Caused the states to reduce contributions to local gooberments, causing local communities to raise taxes on their people. Duh, really cut the taxes of the people in the community didn't it. Which paid the same level of taxes the fed. Shell game.

Nixion's resigning, he still collected his pension, he still got all the privileges of a former president, and in his later years even got the recognition of those that left office honorably.

Actually the AHCA website was put up for bid. Amazing what limiting your information sources doesn't allow one to learn.

Boehner, Bill Johnson and the Republicans that have refused to appoint any special prosecutors should be lauded for using what little common sense members of congress have. Thankfully they're not wasting time or taxpayers money on wild goose chases. It's ironic that Tea Party conservatives are always so quick to advocate spending government money on frivolously re-investigating cases that have been gone through over and over because they don't like the outcome of the previous investigations.

President Barack Obama said he did not want just to be president but a "transformational president," and as he starts his sixth year in office, one must acknowledge how he has transformed both the presidency and America itself.

Under Obama, the executive branch abused power beyond what got Richard Nixon out of office on the threat of impeachment. It sent spy agencies after U.S. citizens and reporters, used tax authority to hurt political foes, and dispatched the Justice Department to aid friends (Black Panthers or Muslim groups) and to punish/threaten those it viewed as unfriendly.

"I have a pen and a phone," President Obama repeated several times in recent weeks, promising to enlarge his use of presidential decrees and "findings" beyond anything done by presidents before him, such as appointing most of the Federal Trade Commission or the National Labor Relations Board without congressional approval.

Indeed, President Obama acted as if he were Chief Justice Obama as well as House Obama and Senate Obama, by invalidating laws or parts of law passed by Congress -- such as parts of the immigration statutes and the new healthcare law, among many others.

Meanwhile, President Obama has been legislating his laws and making unilateral appointments by decree.

Abroad, Obama changed America's eagle into an ostrich, its head in the ground, wagging its tail feathers in the air, "leading from behind." Atom bombs in Iran: rationalize and temporize. Chemical weapons in Syria: dither and delay. Russian violations of nuclear arms treaties: smile and ignore.

At home, Obama changed the eagle into an opportunistic vulture, scavenging off the working class, the young and the wealthy, without helping the poor and elderly.

President Obama has broken many promises. One that he has not broken is his boast that he would "fundamentally transform America." He and his fellow Democrats are on the verge of doing just that by turning us into a nation of loafers.

A loafer is an idle person who lives off others. Barack Obama seemingly has no problem with such people. He might even relate to them. He does have a serious problem with his own work ethic, and finds work boring. He also denigrates the work of others who build businesses through dint of hard work and risk-taking ("You didn't build that"); talks incessantly of "fat cats" on Wall Street; embraced the Occupy Wall Street Movement of squatters and pumped up their own inflated self-importance by telling them "You are the reason I ran for office"; and accuses doctors of running up the tab by, among other evils, taking tonsils out for money instead of diagnosing problems as allergies). He has yet to speak critically of union leaders, class action lawyers and others who run up the tab for all Americans because they are, after all, the Democratic Base.

But Obama and his Democratic Party allies seem to be gleeful about the rise of the loafer class. Recent revelations from the Congressional Budget Office bear witness to this phenomenon. When the CBO's prognosis on the future of Obamacare revealed that the equivalent of 2.5 million jobs would be lost because the provisions of the law would create disincentives to working (as well as hiring) what was the response from the left side of the political spectrum?

Billdog says that one of the reasons Reagan was a lousy president was because "he violated employees ability to strike as a bargaining toool."

As I recall, he told the Air Traffic Controllers they would be punished if they did strike.......they did strike........and they were punished. End of story.

Unions were great when my Father worked in the steel mill 70 yrs ago. They were 100% for the working man. Today, the unions align themselves with Communists, hoodlums, and occupiers.They are on their way out.

In the next 10 years, Ohio we become a "right to work state" just like the liberal state - Wisconson

Your responses in that last post about sums it all up eivo. Seriously:

"Utilized executive privileged to not testify as to what/how weapons got into the Contra's hands.The President of the US should never have to testify in a trumped up political witch hunt." Does the same thing apply to Obama? Did it apply to Bill Clinton? Would it apply to Hillary Clinton if she runs & is elected?

"Sold weapons to Iran (F-16's/F-14's/C-131's) Smaller handheld weapons such as M16s, grenade launchers, etc...Every President in history has sold weapons to foreign countries." But every President in history didn't sell weapons to an ENEMY state, pledged to the destruction of America.

Finally, "Bush's actions in Iraq sent a very clear message to tinhorn dictators that if they start believing their own rhetoric and take some action the end result is that they will end up at the end of a hangman's noose. This is not lost on the Ayatollas in Iran or the goofball in North Korea. They can have all the protests they want, wave their fists and burn flags, but if they take any action at all, they lose their country. A powerful deterent that we are still reaping the benefits today."

Iraq didn't act against us, nor was Al Quedia operating in Iraq. (Lest you forget history, Saddam was a crackpot tinhorn dictator- but he locked up, tortured & executed other tinhorn crackpots as quickly and viciously as A North Korean dictator hangs their relatives.) The warlords of Afghanistan did aid in attacking us. Many of the Afghan warlords are still in power. Some are even backed by and supported by us financially & militarily. Yep, they got the message, do what you want & when America does respond with force, switch to their side & all will be forgiven.

Is it funny that Eivo thinks that he is the only one who is rational and correct in his delusional thoughts, even though 20 different people are calling him a crack pot? At some point Eivo, you might have to stop and think, maybe all of these people are on to something. We are not all brainwashed by the left media either. You are not FAIR, and you are definitely not BALANCED, as in stable....

evio, you prove you are a complete moron. Like talking to 2 year old, or a mental midget. You justify and rationalize everything. And none of them make sense. You sir deserve all that you will never have.

I don't know if any of you watch Fox News sometimes or never, but the public wouldn't know what's going on in government if it wasn't for Fox News. Do yourselves a favor and watch Fox for at least one week and then decide if they're fair and balanced. Bret Baier has a great newscast from 6 till 7. Give it a shot if you really want to know if Fox News is for real.

Eivo, Admire your fight and agree to most of the things you post. However, I learned a while back these dems,libs,socialists cannot even answer some basic questions. Why are they libs? What is their goal and how do they get there? Where does it all end for a lib? Won't or can't answer, just will obfuscate the questions. And it's really time to move on when Cambridge gets involved. Probably a communist with a boat load of red herrings.Take care.

eivo....you said there were no lies for why bush attacked Iraq. You said "NONE, NADA, ZILCH". Well here is your hero bush and his administration telling one lie after another in their own words out of their own mouths.

Eivo, I have never, not once, read any talking points from George Soros, never visited any website from George Soros. You continue to do nothing but cut and paste crap from your right wing nut job sites which are so biased they are to be ignored.

You are also doing what you do on every story you post on, you dodge questions you can't find the answers to on Faux News or Drudge. ANSWER THE QUESTION MYSELF AND OTHERS ARE ASKING-- WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF INVADING IRAQ? You can't. You can't think for yourself, you are an embarrassment to yourself and your family and your lack of ability to think for yourself and not be a sheep is embarrassing to those on the right who actually do have a brain.

Let's suppose that we never invaded Iraq. & Saddam was still alive. His neighbor is Iran, & as you very well know Iraq & Iran have had many confrontations between themselves.

Now Iran is very close to having the BOMB. Everyone knows this. Can you imagine Saddam sitting still while Iran is researching the BOMB? I can't. You know darn well that Saddam would have his scientists also researching the BOMB. Can you imagine these two rogue nations having the BOMB?

WOW! there goes the Middle East, & since Israel is our ally & we have sworn to protect then, where does that leave us?

And, by the way, virtually all Dems & Repubs approved the attack on Iraq.

Most Dems don't watch Fox News, but they do watch ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, & they read the NYT, & the Boston Globe on the East coast. They also read the Vindy, The St Louis Post Dispatch, in Mid America, and all the way to the LA Times on the West coast, and virtually all of the newspapers between the East & West coast.Did you notice everything I mentioned was liberal? Now if this is all the Dems read, they hear one side, & that side is the Obama side. All liberal. Then little 'ol Fox News comes along & all of a sudden little 'ol Fox News becomes BIG FOX NEWS, because the folks want to hear the other side. And, according to you Dems, that shouldn't be. Oh No! We just want the liberal side.What if we had just one drug store, say CVS, & no other. How about we have just one auto on the market, say Chevy, & no other. Competition makes the world go around & you guys just don't understand.

borylie,I agree with you about the Fox newscast at 6 pm with Bret Baier. The general reporting is not biased and the Fox All-stars are well balanced and give multiple views. Not just conservative views but liberal views as well. However, MSNBC would have you believe that closing a bridge for a few days is about the same as Nixon trampling on the Constitution.

Ha-Ha. I laughed so hard I peed myself. It's hilarious how everyone is biased but Fox News. News is business and Fox New's business is a conservative bias. I'm not slamming them. This is America and God Bless them for making themselves a boatload of cash with it.

@Ytown, It's not that Fox News is biased or not. It's hearing about things you would not hear somewhere else or read anywhere else. Once you hear about it then at least you can do a little research to see if it's true or not. Not knowing something is worse than biased news.

SheDevilI watch MoJo most mornings from 6:00 to about 7:30. While Joe presents a moderately conservative view, they have few additional contributors that do. Maybe Michael Steele but dats it. Now, on Fox, Greta does an excellent job of providing a balanced analysis. So does Megyn Kelley and she is pleasing to the eyes and ears as opposed to Mika, who is smarmy and pompous. One thing about Fox News; if a network is going to have people read and discuss the news, they may as we'll be beautiful.

Right you are @borylie. Most people don't fact check their sources though. And the disciple minded faithful of Fox News will never admit that it's part of an Entertainment company 21st Century Fox, whose stock is one of my more profitable ones, thanks to Fox News.

Testimony from the pilot that CC did indeed "look down" would just about seal his fate, because it establishes culpability for the traffic-jam-as-political-payback theory, as well as relegates to the position of lies his statements that he knew nothing of the jam until he read about it in the papers.

Even more damaging will be the conclusion that he withheld "Sandy" relief funds from Hoboken, as Dawn Zimmer maintains, because she refused to support building projects of his political cronies.

That's why the feds are sniffing around. And it's why prominent conservatives are calling for him to step down as head of the Rep. Gov's Association.

Republicans can't seem to shake the "gate" label. Now we have Bridgegate and Sandy-gate.

Unless an email, text or voice mail surfaces showing Christie ordered the closure or knew about it, or actual evidence beyond he said-she said showing he misused Sandy funds, none of this would affect Christie in a general election. It could make it harder for him to navigate the primaries and get the Republican nomination, but without solid evidence of wrong doing it wouldn't change much come November 2016.

The Right wing-nuts will vote for him no matter what, while the left wing-nuts wouldn't vote for him if Washington and Lincoln rose from the dead and endorsed him. Most moderate voters won't consider it at all when making their decision with solid evidence. He'll lose a few of those moderate voters who do consider it just because they've grown weary of the whole "plausible deniabilty" and they feel an executive should know what everyone is doing under him. Those voters will be offset by the few votes he gets for taking responsibility for not knowing and firing those who keep him in the dark.

The irony is pretty much anyone running against Hilary will start ahead in the polls. The on deck candidates ( Romney, McCain, and Gore) haven't won. And any democratic candidate will have to be so far in distance from Obama to win that they can't be in Washington now, or have been there at anytime since 2008.

Well thanks then George W. Because of his mighty fist, all these other countries are trembling in their shoes! I'm sure the thousands of families who lost their sons and daughters, moms and dads, brothers and sisters, also thank him for killing their loved ones in a "trumped up war with the wrong country". But Benghazi was the worst horror in the last 50 years according to you Eivo.

In retrospect, the reason we invaded Iraq was to obviously allow the world's largest oil companies to get their hands on easily obtained oil from Iraq's rich oil fields and to perpetuate the use of US dollar as the currency for purchasing the oil. I believe Sadam was preparing to take any currency just prior to the strike, similar to the Libyan strike. The war was easily sold as the prevention of Iraq from obtaining nuclear WMD's since he already had chemical WMD's and used them on Oran and the Kurds. (We have the receipt for those weapons.) After 9/11, the US people were spoiling for a fight as payback, regardless of whom the enemy was. We wanted an eye for an eye. It made sense to the people and it was the easy political move. While the evidence may have been exaggerated, there is no conclusive evidence that it was purposefully manipulated. British intelligence and US intelligence were in agreement. Both sides of the political aisle promoted it.

Whther invading Iraq was a good choice is debatable since the world is a better place without Sadam but was it worth the cost. I don't think so. A complete military embargo of Iraq would have probably accomplished the same end but with more overall suffering of the Iraqi people. Now, invading Afghanistan is even more problematic since that is where the masterminds of the 9/11 attack were located. But, this was too difficult to accomplish and we probably could have done this by other means.

Now, that I have answered that, it has NOTHING to do with the Benghazi scandal which was a deliberate manipulation of the facts of the terrorist attack less than two months before the general election. Just because some believe that the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libyan invasions were poor decisions does not excuse lying to the American people. And, to equate any of this to a bridge being closed, FOR WHATEVER REASON, for a few days and causing traffic jams, is ludicrous and shameful, whether Chris Christie knew about it or not.

I will give you thousands of reasons it was bad.4,489 Americans killed in Iraq32,021 officially wounded.Why did the attacks on the US embassy happen then if any of these nutcases wouldn't allow an attack on the U.S.? If what happened in Iraq detered all of these nut jobs, why did they have the balls to attack the US embassy?

Without some documentation or attacker's testimony it would be difficult, if not impossible to know if the attack was pre-planned.

If it was not planned, that leaves spontaneous.

Considering the widespread protests across the Islamic world over the American Bacile's video satirizing Muhammad (and promoted by AmericanTerry Jones), it is plausible that the attack was INITALLY a protest over the video. That more militant Islamist s then took that opportunity to bring in heavier firepower is equally plausible.

(We have subsequently learned that the attack occurred in two phases - the later stages of which involved heavier weapons)

On it's face, without evidence to the contrary (that in fact the attack had been planned days/weeks/months in advance), what Rice said was reasonable.

What has the republicans so torqued about this is that they feel that this so-called lie (or deliberate misrepresentation) cost Romney the election.

One wonders if some Republicans were actually hoping that a terrorist attack would occur to use that against Obama.

My personal view is that Romney would have lost the election regardless - his 47% commentary sealed that deal

@ eivo, you are talking out of both sides of your head AGAIN. In one sentence, because of Bush's invasion of the wrong country, we the US, are still reaping the benefits, because nobody will attack us out of fear. In your next breath, you bring up attacks that have occurred since (conflicting). Then the funniest part is that the attacks you mentioned (Ft Hood and the Boston Marathon) were done by U.S. citizens, one being in the Army. Who should Obama invade for that? Maybe he should have the Marines take out the Army. What nationality was the kid who shot up the school in Conn? Polish? Lets invade Poland too. Teach them a lesson. The mind is a dangerous thing. You would be very dangerous if you had one.

right eivo... You have been the first to name call many many times. Also the first to get off subject, and also the first to make a rediculous statement to bait others into an argument. And from the hate you spew, SADIST is fitting.

> > This pretty much> sums it up about our great military and our negroid commander in chief> > .> > It would> seem the U . S . Marines know something that many of the civilian > population do not .> > > > Take 2 minutes to > watch this comparison between George Bush's visit to the> Marines vs . Obama's > recent trip .> > > > The > different levels of respect and honor shown by the fighting> men and > women is incredible .> > > > Try to get > this to as many loyal Americans as you can.... it> may not last long > on YouTube, as Obama's people are working hard right now> to get it removed > .. They don't want Americans to know how little> respect the American > fighting man has for the current "commander"....> > > >http://www.armyparatrooper.org/dropzo...come-a-President > > > SEMPER > FI!> >

Dear God, you called me that? Way to offend everyone who has family with mental disabilities.

Not one thing you cut and pasted in #113 answers the question that has been REPEATEDLY asked of you and you are either too stupid to answer on your own, or can't find a right wing nut job site to cut and paste from. What were the benefits TO IRAQ that Bush's lies and war were a result of?

Does your family know you post on here and the garbage you spew? For their sake please stop. You are an embarrassment.

The bigger question is how eivo and neo-cons give Reagan no credit for propping up, funding and arming the "tinhorn" dictator Saddam. Or the afgan mujahideen terrorists, including Bin Laden. Since we're dolling out credit, better give it where it's do.

and I like how the loss of all those military men and women is okay, because eivo donates to the Wounded Warrior Foundation. Maybe if you were in the military, you might think twice before sending into uneccessary harm's way in the first place. These are people, not little plastic green Army men.

I seem to recall that Hussain did everything he could to placate Bush prior to invasion.

There was not much that Hussain could do about events that happened ten years previous.

We told Hussain to destroy missles, and after he said he did, Bush insisted there were more, but it turns out that Hussain was telling the truth.

evio says that the "bad" intelligence was gathered under Clinton's watch. As I recall Powell made quite a deal over photos of weapons producing trailers that had just been taken ....trailers Powell suggested were being hidden in the dessert. Turns out Powell was wrong

After 9/11 the US was psychologically set to kick some butt, and wanted control of Iraqi oil. Simple - two birds with one very large (and enormously expensive) stone.

I followed the biologic weapons trailers story closely. Here is what I remember: Powell and Chaney both insisted that they were for the production of anthrax and botulism.

In 2003 (reported in 2005) the pentagon produced a report titled"Final Technical Engineering Exploitation Report on Iraqi Suspected Biological Weapons-Associated Trailers" they concluded that the trailers that Chaney and Powell had found were actually manufactured in Great Britain for production of hydrogen and were impractical for biologic agent manufacture.

Powell later admitted that he was wrong.

Did Powell (and others) lie , or did they just want to believe something that would advance the agenda?

colin powell and condaleeza rice both stated that there were no wmd's in 2001 but bush went along with his farce changed the story and invaded Iraq anyway. My sources are colin powell and condaleeza rice.

whomever the 2nd eivo is, is brilliant! Your comments sound so much like him, I didn't realize that you were an imposter. Cambridge, you can show 100 videos of Bush himself confessing, but "someone" will insist that the videos were doctored by the Obama controlled left wing media.

You Ytowners always complain about the Koch brothers & how much money they donate to the Repubs. Please read the following:

OpenSecrets.org tallied the top donors in federal elections between 1989 and 2014. Koch Industries -- privately owned by the Koch Bros -- is on the list, to be sure, but doesn't appear until the 59th slot, with $18 million in donations, 90 percent of which went to Republicans.

So who occupies the 58 spots ahead of the Koch Bros? Six of the top 10 are ... wait for it ... unions. They gave more than $278 million, with most of it going to Democrats.

Alfred my man. Scandal? Really? Is that the best Christie could do? He needs to come to the Valley to learn about vendettas. And you need to quit smokin' weed before typing! (You probably didn't inhale either.)

Sarah Palin is correct. We need a union buster like Scott Walker of WI to be our next president.He took his state from a deficit to a surplus, reduced taxes, took WI to a "right to work state," and much more.

Walker is not brash like King Obama or the Gov of NJ. He is MELLOW and gets things done. Also, he beat that try to remove him from office even with all that money that came to WI from unions around the country.

Fox News- Christie showed tremendous leadership trying to lead New Jersians out of a state of the emergency snow storm by going to the Caribean Islands. Unfortunately the people of NJ just didn't follow him because they watched the Obama led media's weather report, which falsely called for a global warming heat wave. Christie-2016

Once the Federal prosecutor gets hold of emails tying him to the lane-closures-as-payback scandal (not to mention the diversion of Sandy funds scheme), he will, if lucky, avoid the fate of Rob Blabgoonavich.

Eivo, when were your boots on the ground in Iraq? Because mine were there in 04-05 with 2nd Bde 10th Mountain Div. and I was an intelligence analyst on the ground for over a year. I lost a piece of my humanity out there and observed funeral services for 30 men under the age of thirty during that time. The way you talk about the Iraq war clearly demonstrates your lack of understanding of the geopolitical landscape. But I am glad that you have decided that it was all worth it. What did it cost you? Your ignorance is only outweighed by your apathy and your arrogance. Are you really so pinheaded as to think that the Iraq war paid off by unnecessarily deterring nations that were never a serious threat to begin with? Do you actually think that there was any country on this planet that doubted our military superiority? Do yourself a favor and learn critical thinking skills. And do me a favor and stop disrespecting our dead by trying to spout such an uninformed opinion about their sacrifice. While I cannot speak for them, I suspect that most of those wounded warriors you donate to would punch you in the mouth. Do your country a favor and abstain from voting until you get an education and develop critical thinking skills.

BoneDigger, first, thank you for your service and your sacrifice. It is vets like us who give knuckleheads like Eivo the freedom to spew garbage. To show his appreciation for our country and military, the man won't even display his U.S. flag. Despicable.

Do you know this guy?He is Edward Mezvinsky, born Jan 17, 1937.A former Dem US Congressman from Iowa. Served 2 terms 1973-1977.He sat on the Judiciary Committee that decided the fate of Nixon. He was outspoken saying Nixon was a crook & a disgrace to politics & the nation & should be impeached.He & the Clintons were friends & politically intertwined for many years. Mezvinsky had an affair with NBC News reporter Marjorie Sue Margolies & later married her after his wifr divorced him.In 1993 Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, then a freshman Dem, in Congress cast the deciding vote that got Clinton's controversial tax package through the House of Representatives.In March 2001, Mezvinsky was indicited and later pleade guilty to 31 of 69 counts of bank fraud & wire fraud.Mezvinsky embezzled more tha 10 million from people via a ponzi scheme. He was found guilty & sentenced to 80 months in federal prison. He served 5 yrs & was released in April 2008 & was placed on probation.To this day he owes $9.4 million restitution to his victims.About now, you are saying "so what."Well, This is the father-in-law of Marc & Chelsea Mezvinsky. ( yes Chelsea Clinton)Now Marc & Chelsea are in their early 30's & just purchased a $10.5 million NYC apartment.Has anyone heard mention of this in the media? Absolutely NOT. But if this guy was Jenna or Barbara Bush's or better yet, Sarah Palin's father-in-law, this news would be an everyday headline & every detail would be reported over & over again. And , liberals say there is no double standard in political reporting.And, people are already talking about Hillary Rotten Clinton as our next president.

@Bonedigger. Thank you for your service to our country. Please disregard eivo and his anti- American views. We are used to his ignorance. You've already fought for this country. You shouldn't have to deal with the disrespect that eivo spews toward American heroes.

You missed part of the story - why is Michaels' activities are under investigation at all?

According to CBS: "Lt. Thomas "Chip" Michaels, reportedly chauffeured former Port Authority official David Wildstein through the traffic-congested streets of the city of Fort Lee during the lane closures.

Michaels’ involvement in the controversy came under scrutiny because he exchanged text messages with Wildstein, which were included in the documents that Wildstein handed over to a legislative panel investigating the matter".

There is no suggestion that Michaels spoke with Christie - so no reason for Christie to deny it.

Eivo, your stupidity is astounding. And at 55 years old you ought to be ashamed of yourself. I thought you were just some 15 year old child of the Westboro Baptist Church. What assessment of of geopolitics or the Iraq war did I give? How can anyone not agree with an assessment I didn't give? Get a clue. I don't know if you are just from Mississippi or Texas or if you are one of the many mentally ill of Youngstown. Either way, I am not the one providing assessments here. I was pointing out that you are ill-informed and an uneducated, mindless dunce. Thank you for donating to wounded warriors. At least the people like you who think that BS was worth it are helping fix those whom they needlessly broke. If one guy gets a new set of legs courtesy of your donation, I don't care what your political motivations are (even if they are the same politics that got him injured to begin with). However, since you are so unapologetically ignorant, I will no longer attempt to communicate with you. Still can't believe you are 55!

All kind of news about Repub Christie, on this message board, but none on Dem Ed Mezvinsky.I guess stopping traffic on a bridge is more newsworthy than a Dem using a ponzi scheme to embezzle $10 million, not paying it back, then giving it to his son to buy an apartment in NYC, huh?That's Ytown for ya.

To those who thanked me for serving...it was an honor. I see every day I spent in that uniform as a privilege considering the heroism of so many before me. Like I told people when I was in, I appreciate your thanks but go thank your garbage man. Truth is, if he and the military stopped showing up for work for a month, I think you would likely miss him a tad more. We are all just doing our jobs. I personally thank my countrymen for the opportunity to serve and for their ongoing support for our troops regardless of their politics. I have received thanks and support from so many people on the left and right that it reminds me, we are all American and we are all in this together. If you want to thank me, just keep being great Americans and remember WE are America.

Foreign policy neophyte Barack Obama once again made a bone-headed pronouncement about world affairs, this time addressing the violence in Ukraine. "[W]e're going to be watching closely and we expect the Ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peaceful protesters," he said Wednesday. "We've also said we expect peaceful protesters to remain peaceful." He added, "[T]here will be consequences if people step over the line." Unfortunately, everyone knows that Obama speaks loudly and forgets his stick, especially when the nation in question is in any way associated with Russia's Vladimir Putin, which Ukraine's government is. Just like his "red line" with Syria, this latest warning is huff and bluster that will only weaken U.S. standing in the world.

WHOA now..wait just a minute. You aren't saying that you are in the "common sense middle" are you eivo? You lack any sense, let alone common sense, and and resemblance to you and "the middle"..well that train left the station a long, long LONG time ago.

Now he has time to count too, after calling she devil obsessive. Plus your math doesn't even add up because there are 218 posts lol. You are so far away from common sense middle that you couldn't get there with a GPS.

The network is in rebuilding mode, trying to push away from its traditional reliance on breaking news. So it's perhaps not surprising that its ratings are not at their most robust. Even so, the numbers are stinging: as the Hollywood Reporter and TVNewser noted, it was CNN's third-worst ratings month in its history. CNN lost 39% of its total primetime audience from the same month in 2013, and 35% of its primetime audience in the coveted A25-54 demo.

Arch-rival MSNBC also saw its ratings fall from 2013, but not nearly as much as CNN did. (It dropped just 2% in the primetime demo, for instance.) It landed in second place in all categories in both total day and primetime. Fox News, meanwhile, saw its ratings grow from January 2013, though they fell by 1% in the primetime demo category. As ever, it retained its comfortable first place lead.

The Washington Post’s fact checker on Monday awarded President Barack Obama with a flunking grade for claiming recently that approximately 7 million Americans now have “access to health care for the first time because of Medicaid expansion.”

The president’s claim, which the Post awarded four Pinocchio’s, was made on Feb. 20 during a dinner with the Democratic Governors Association.

Were he alive today, Richard Nixon would have to doff his hat to Barack Obama. Compared with how the Obama administration has swept under the rug the Benghazi attacks of September 11, 2012, Nixon’s attempt to cover up the Watergate burglary was rank amateurism. To be fair, Nixon’s team of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, and Dean were not in the same league as Obama’s, which includes not only his cabinet but most of the national media and much of Congress

I like how you right wing rescumlicans like to take one quote out of context to try to make it sound like she meant what difference did the loss of 4 people make. Here is the ENTIRE QUOTE in context.Clinton: With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they'd they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator. Now, honestly, I will do my best to answer your questions about this, but the fact is that people were trying in real time to get to the best information. The IC has a process, I understand, going with the other committees to explain how these talking points came out. But you know, to be clear, it is, from my perspective, less important today looking backwards as to why these militants decided they did it than to find them and bring them to justice, and then maybe we'll figure out what was going on in the meantime.

Tony Blair and George Bush proclaimed on May 30 2003 that two trailers found in Iraq were mobile biological laboratories. “We have already found two trailers, both of which we believe were used for the production of biological weapons,” said Mr Blair. Mr Bush went further: “Those who say we haven’t found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons – they’re wrong. We found them.” It is now almost certain that the vehicles were for the production of hydrogen for weather balloons, just as the Iraqis claimed – and that they were exported by Britain.

Bush "WE found them" -- so, evio, show me the link to Clinton who left office about 4 years prior.

Eivo STILL didn't respond to the question of Iraqi oil paying for the war! I would consider that to be one big fat lie. Maybe he said it to garnish support to start the war and hopes that people would forget he said it.

Days after the U.S. invasion, then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told a congressional panel that Iraqi oil revenues would help pay for reconstructing the country, i.e. a cost of the war. “The oil revenue of that country could bring between 50 and 100 billion dollars over the course of the next two or three years. We’re dealing with a country that could really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon,” he said.One month before the war, then-White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Iraq “is a rather wealthy country. … And so there are a variety of means that Iraq has to be able to shoulder much of the burden for their own reconstruction.”Since the start of the Iraq war, the U.S. has spent tens of billions of dollars in reconstruction costs.

The plan you could get behind is one where an any employed person residing in the US (exclusive of those whose only employment is in the illegal drug trade) would be eligible for free health care insurance.Eligibility would include non-citizens and non-documented residents.

Would you suggest any earnings ceiling (above which "free" would not apply) or any earnings floor (below which the person is not considered employed ?

@shedevil, I like the sound of your last comment, but things to think about, maybe you have but need to specify details.1. Is it possible to have enough jobs for every single able bodied person?2. Who pays for the dead beats who don't want to work and show up at the ER (we still will through higher premiums).3. Who pays for the so called "free healthcare"? Is it government? If so, expect taxes to go up to cover all of this coverage.4. Who determines who is able bodied, and what disabilities qualify you to be unable to work? Any doctor?Interested to hear if you have thought about these issues in detail and would like to hear your response. I am sure that there are probably a hundred other additional details that I didn't even mention. But your idea sounds good in theory.

@eivo,RE your post "I would support virtually anything that does not provide free health care to people who do not work or whose only work is selling drugs."

I'm trying to understand the details of the plan that you would support, specifically who would be included and who would be excluded in a free health care.

Trying to list who would be excluded (thus far)1) people who don't work 2) people whose only work is selling drugs

So I was trying get a clearer definition of 1 & 2.

Regarding group 1: How many hours per week qualifies as "working"?Regarding group 2: (and I've assumed you mean illegally selling drugs) Would a person who has otherwise qualifying employment AND illegally sells drugs qualify for free healthcare under your plan?

All other people would be eligible for free healthcare, including persons over 65 (working or not) and those that are adjudicated disabled (working or not).

SheDevil: When you sign up for health care at work do you not use the word insurance and health care or health plan interchangeably? Health insurance protects you against medical loss by illness or injury.

Actually, if you want to get technical, health insurance is a term used to also cover disability, long term care, catastrophic coverage.

People should be able to participate in medical HSA's beginning with their first job and continue to contribute to their medical HSA throughout their lifetime, assuming the risk for smaller bills and depend on the insurance coverage for bills that could stand to bankrupt a person. Should they need to use the health insurance, the HSA can be used to draw from money saved into the account to pay for out of pocket expenses. Whenever the insurance plan has a higher deductible the premium costs are lower. The savings in lower premiums can be put into the HSA. When the employer also passes on their savings, the HSA can build rapidly.

Not every person will be able to have money left over in their HSA every year, but for those that are generally healthy, the HSA can grow to be used at retirement or to pass along to their heirs. At a minimum they can provide the funds to pay their out of pocket costs of medical care.

The Liar had the IRS create the Flight 370 conspiracy and then ordered the left wing media to cover the made up story 24/7 so they wouldn't cover Bennnnnghaaaaazi. Don't ask questions or you will be audited.